Now that the midterm wipeout has concluded, analysts are already sizing up the GOP challengers to a weakened Barack Obama. Not only that: some Democratic party elders are considering the once-unthinkable scenario of a debilitating challenge to Barack Oba Even before the rout at the polls, Democrats were nervous about their President. The left felt sold out, and moderates were frightened. Now it's payback time. By STEVEN STARK | November 05, 2010

It's been more than a week since the June 8 primary election, which saw Republican PAUL LEPAGE (Waterville mayor and Marden's exec) beat a large field of better-financed competitors, and LIBBY MITCHELL (state senate president) pull out ahead of the D Post-primary musings By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 18, 2010

The morning after I get back from the 41st annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, an oil executive is on the radio: “We’re throwing everything we have at it.” Meaning the exploded BP-leased well in the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles off the coast of The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival carries on By JON GARELICK | May 07, 2010

As a potential Obama nominee for Supreme Court justice, Elena Kagan has liberal bona fides and the likely support of the right. But if her record is any indication, she’s more likely to side with the conservative bloc on matters of executive power and wa What a Kagan appointment to the Supreme Court could mean for civil liberties By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND KYLE SMEALLIE | April 23, 2010

Republican Scott Brown's victory last month in the race for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat has every two-bit GOP hopeful in the Northeast claiming the mantle of the pick-up truck populist. John J. Loughlin’s suddenly high-profile campaign to oust Patrick Kennedy By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 12, 2010

Barack Obama's popularity should not be judged by the day-to-day, media-driven vagaries of politics — nor by the wishful thinking of his opponents. Obama’s days of greatest power and popularity lie before him. But be warned: he might not do what you want with it. By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 13, 2009

To listen to some pundits, Barack Obama's public image began taking a serious beating when the off-year election returns came in a week ago. Or maybe it was the undeserved Nobel Prize, his approach to the war in Afghanistan, or when he revved up his pur Yes, he made history. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there. By STEVEN STARK | November 13, 2009

Those who worry that the eco-movement seems incapable of getting beyond its white upper-middle-class base will be disturbed anew by Robert Stone’s Earth Days , where every talking head is a well-bred Caucasian. Did you know Nixon once signed progressive eco-legislation? By GERALD PEARY | October 09, 2009

When the Camelot Caucus convenes in Faneuil Hall this Wednesday, the American presidency will once again become the trophy of a personality joust. In 1968 and '72, there was at least the issue of Vietnam to veil the overweaning ambitions of competing pu An incumbent's lessons and the politics of personality By MARCO TRBOVICH | August 28, 2009

When the Camelot Caucus convenes in Faneuil Hall this Wednesday, the American presidency will once again become the trophy of a personality joust. In 1968 and '72, there was at least the issue of Vietnam to veil the overweaning ambitions of competing pu An incumbent's lessons and the politics of personality By MARCO TRBOVICH | August 28, 2009

When a 32-year incumbent seeks re-election, there is a long and well-documented record that can be examined. So it's disconcerting to note that admit all the miles of newsprint and videotape that have been expended covering the US Senate campaign, littl A note on the 32-year-incumbent's accomplishments By AL GIORDANO | August 28, 2009

Washington – Edward M. Kennedy's presidential campaign has a serious problem, and the problem appears to be Edward M. Kennedy. During the week in which leadership was transformed from a word in the lexicon of his campaign rhetoric to a measurable realit Kennedy's gaffe on Iran manages to make a bad image worse By MARCO TRBOVICH | August 28, 2009

The broad brush strokes of Teddy Kennedy's presidential announcement may have uplifted liberal hearts, but Jerry Brown's announcement challenged liberal thinking with some pencil-sharp specifics about the role of government in economic planning for the 1 East Coast, West Coast: It's the Ted & Jerry Show By MARCO TRBOVICH AND CHARLES P. PIERCE | August 28, 2009

US military aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan is being wasted and should be redirected to the police and moderate non-violent groups working for education and the rule of law, according to two Middle East experts who spoke Sunday at the Community Church Global Politics By STEVEN STYCOS | June 19, 2009

The presidential party arrives in a rush through the side door near the stage, and those in the audience at Portsmouth High School stand to applaud. Many are on their toes and crane their necks to catch a glimpse of Jimmy Carter in the confusion down fr Inside, an impeccable incumbent fields the easy questions By DIANNE DUMANOSKI | May 08, 2009

In the early days of the Obama administration, one politically perilous warning keeps resurfacing for the man in the Oval Office: "Don't turn into another Jimmy Carter." Constant comparisons to Jimmy Carter are driving Barack batty. And they're unfair — to Jimmy Carter. By STEVEN STARK | April 03, 2009

The double bill of the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Symphony Hall on Friday is a match made in New Orleans. The Blind Boys of Alabama and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 23, 2009

In order to shine some light on the inequality – as well as call attention to the strong, talented tradeswomen who wire this country's buildings, lay out piping systems, and fabricate metals – the local artist and poet Susan Eisenberg, herself a pioneer On Equal Terms: Women in Construction 30 Years & Still Organizing at the Adams Gallery at Suffolk University. By IAN SANDS | February 06, 2009

Barack Obama's new administration has been characterized many ways — as a return to liberalism, a Chicago Mafia, and the harbinger of a new age. For the first time since JFK, 'the best and the brightest' are back in the White House. Will Ivy-League intellect be enough to set the country straight? By STEVEN STARK | January 21, 2009

During a fundraiser for FairVote Rhode Island at the Hi-Hat on Monday, supporters of the concept known as National Popular Vote several times used the acronym NPV with a wink and a smile, eliciting the question from a colleague, "What's NPV?," and then Talking Politics By IAN DONNIS | December 17, 2008

Like being visited by the Grinch instead of Santa, it looks as if Barack Obama is going to have to give up his beloved BlackBerry not long after this holiday season draws to a close. Anybody can give electronics that do something useful, it takes imagination to air-condition a dog By MIKE MILIARD | December 08, 2008

Things do indeed look bad for their Grand Old Party. Actually, it's even worse than they think. The GOP relied on talk radio to carry its water, but votes are worth more than ratings By BY STEVEN STARK | November 12, 2008